Supreme Court Dismisses Atiku and Obi’s Appeals, Upholds Election of Tinubu in 2023 Polls

The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar to challenge the upholding of President Tinubu’s election by the Presidential Poll Tribunal.

The apex court also struck out the petition of the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, for lack of merit.

There were jubilation at the Eagles Square, Abuja, and the Presidential Villa, by supporters of Tinubu, following the verdict of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Justice Inyang Okoro, reading a unanimous judgement of the seven member panel of justices, upheld the judgement of the presidential poll tribunal, which earlier dismissed the petition of Atiku and that of Peter Obi.

The apex court dismissed all points in the petitions raised by Atiku and Obi in their appeal.

It rejected Atiku’s deposition that a presidential candidate must obtain 25 per cent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to be declared winner of the presidential poll.

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Justice Okoro ruled that the constitution does not stipulates that a politician must get 25 per cent of votes in the FCT, after scoring the majority of votes cast in the presidential poll, before he could be declared as an elected president.

Also, it ruled that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit the results of the poll through the Independent Results Viewing (IReV) portal should not affect the results of the poll.

According to the apex court, the IReV was not a collation system, but admits that the failure of INEC to use the portal to transmit the result, erodes the confidence of the electorate in the electoral system.

The court also rejected the testimonies of Atiku’s witnesses, on the ground that they did not witness the alleged irregularities, but depended on hearsay.

It also refused to admit Atiku’s fresh evidence on the Chicago State University of President Tinubu as disposed to by the university in a United State (US) court.

Justice Okoro ruled that the apex court could not invoke section 62 of its act after the expiration of the 80 day deadline of the trial court.

The apex court said the judgement applied to Peter Obi’s petition.